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In one job, the women used to complain that the boss literally could/would not hear the women when they spoke - at least when they were speaking seriously, offe
by RougeFemme 14y ago
In one job, the women used to complain that the boss literally could/would not hear the women when they spoke - at least when they were speaking seriously, offering suggestions, analysis, etc. (He was great for sharing beers, shooting the breeze, discussing current events, etc.) The other men always insisted we were being paranoid/militantly feminist/attention-seeking, etc. One guy finally "saw" it - but not until he had given his 2-weeks' notice. I guess that's when he finally felt comfortable taking the blinders off - or finally acknowledging what he had always seen. I used to say that even mosquitos got more respect from our boss than we did, because he had swatted at them when he heard them.
- wpietri 14y ago"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" -- Upton Sinclair Of course, when he said it, "man" meant "person". To be maximally fair to the guys, this stuff is really hard to see. Part of it is just that everything is hard to see unless it's somehow personal for you. But the bigger part for me was that really seeing it required a trip down the rabbit hole to seeing all sorts of privilege. All sorts of my privilege, really. Who wants to know that a chunk of one's sense of self-worth is false? It's real work, and I feel lucky that my circumstances disposed me to seeing it more easily than most.